HMGB1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Additionally, we observed that downregulation of p-AMPK by depletion of HMGB1 did not enhance p-mTOR expression, inhibit autophagy, or promote apoptosis of HCC cells when mTOR was blocked by rapamycin, which implied that mTOR was a downstream molecule of AMPK in the abovementioned regulation process.